Murder Ballads and Other Horrific Tales

Murder Ballads and Other Horrific Tales
Author: John Hornor Jacobs
Publisher: JournalStone
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2020-12-15
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1950305406

A terrifying collection of horror and crime noir from the author of Southern Gods and A Lush and Seething Hell. Featuring ten tales, two never before in print, Murder Ballads and Other Horrific Tales is an exciting glimpse into the dark territories of the human heart. These are coming-of-age stories. Stories of love and loss, grief and revenge. Survival and redemption. From old gods to malevolent artificial intelligences, vampires to zombies to ghosts, Jacobs exposes our fears and worst imaginings. CONTAINS THE SEQUEL TO SOUTHERN GODS "Jacobs demonstrates masterful control of his eclectic themes and frequently propels them into unexpected and pleasingly original territory... Offers plenty to keep genre fans hooked." --Publishers Weekly

The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky

The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky
Author: John Hornor Jacobs
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 132
Release: 2018-10-30
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0062880810

"The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky is moving and memorable, one of the novellas of the year." -- Locus Magazine They had escaped their country, but they couldn’t escape the past Having lost both her home and family to a brutal dictatorship, Isabel has fled to Spain, where she watches young, bronzed beauties and tries to forget the horrors that lie in her homeland. Shadowing her always, attired in rumpled linen suits and an eyepatch, is “The Eye,” a fellow ex-pat and poet with a notorious reputation. An unlikely friendship blossoms, a kinship of shared grief. Then The Eye receives a mysterious note and suddenly returns home, his fate uncertain. Left with the keys to The Eye’s apartment, Isabel finds two of his secret manuscripts: a halting translation of an ancient, profane work, and an evocative testament of his capture during the revolution. Both texts bear disturbing images of blood and torture, and the more Isabel reads the more she feels the inexplicable compulsion to go home. It means a journey deep into a country torn by war, still ruled by a violent regime, but the idea of finding The Eye becomes ineluctable. Isabel feels the manuscripts pushing her to go. Her country is lost, and now her only friend is lost, too. What must she give to get them back? In the end, she has only herself left to sacrifice. THE SEA DREAMS IT IS THE SKY asks: How does someone simply give up their home...especially when their home won’t let them?

Infernal Machines

Infernal Machines
Author: John Hornor Jacobs
Publisher: Gollancz
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2017-07-27
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 057512430X

The world is burning. Rume is under attck. The Autumn Lords, rulers of the Tchinee empire, have had their true nature revealed. The Emperor descends into madness. And Fisk and Shoe - unlikely heroes, very likely mercenaries - must find their way to Fisk's wife and child, who he has never seen. There might be quite a lot in their way. A war, for one thing. But Livia is as determined as Fisk to be reunited. And Shoe may have a plan...

The Incorruptibles

The Incorruptibles
Author: John Hornor Jacobs
Publisher: Gollancz
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2014-08-14
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 057512363X

In the contested and unexplored territories at the edge of the Empire, a boat is making its laborious way up stream. Riding along the banks are the mercenaries hired to protect it - from raiders, bandits and, most of all, the stretchers, elf-like natives who kill any intruders into their territory. The mercenaries know this is dangerous, deadly work. But it is what they do. In the boat the drunk governor of the territories and his sons and daughters make merry. They believe that their status makes them untouchable. They are wrong. And with them is a mysterious, beautiful young woman, who is the key to peace between warring nations and survival for the Empire. When a callow mercenary saves the life of the Governor on an ill-fated hunting party, the two groups are thrown together. For Fisk and Shoe - two tough, honourable mercenaries surrounded by corruption, who know they can always and only rely on each other - their young companion appears to be playing with fire. The nobles have the power, and crossing them is always risky. And although love is a wonderful thing, sometimes the best decision is to walk away. Because no matter how untouchable or deadly you may be, the stretchers have other plans.

This Dark Earth

This Dark Earth
Author: John Hornor Jacobs
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2012-07-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1451666667

In a post-apocalyptic world overrun by zombies, the survivors at an outpost place their survival in the hands of battle-hardened teen Gus, who considers wrenching choices while preparing his people for battle against a slaver army.

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes

Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke And Other Misfortunes
Author: Eric LaRocca
Publisher: Titan Books (US, CA)
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2022-09-06
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1803361506

"Amongst the Top 50 Horror Books of All Time" - Cosmopolitan Three dark and disturbing horror stories from an astonishing new voice, including the viral-sensation tale of obsession, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke. For fans of Kathe Koja, Clive Barker and Stephen Graham Jones. Winner of the Splatterpunk Award for Best Novella. A whirlpool of darkness churns at the heart of a macabre ballet between two lonely young women in an internet chat room in the early 2000s—a darkness that threatens to forever transform them once they finally succumb to their most horrific desires. A couple isolate themselves on a remote island in an attempt to recover from their teenage son’s death, when a mysterious young man knocks on their door during a storm… And a man confronts his neighbour when he discovers a strange object in his back yard, only to be drawn into an ever-more dangerous game. Three devastating, beautifully written horror stories from one of the genre’s most cutting-edge voices. What have you done today to deserve your eyes?

The Shibboleth

The Shibboleth
Author: John Hornor Jacobs
Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab ®
Total Pages: 433
Release: 2014-03-01
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1467739979

"There are certain shibboleths to our condition." At the end of the first book of The Twelve-Fingered Boy Trilogy, Jack and Shreve are incarcerado―physically locked up. Shreve's back in the custody of the state of Arkansas, and Jack's somewhere in the clutches of Mr. Quincrux―both problems Shreve aims to rectify. Cages might hold Shreve's body, but the power that's been growing since his encounter with Quincrux has reached a pinnacle. Nothing can prevent his mind from scaling the etheric heights. Freed from his body, Shreve discovers the magnitude of the evil that's stirring in the east. The wave of insomnia that's paralyzed the nation is only the beginning.

The Conformity

The Conformity
Author: John Hornor Jacobs
Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2015
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 076139009X

"Shreve, along with Jack and his mute girlfriend Ember, travel to Maryland to solve the mystery behind "the elder," the ancient, malevolent force hidden near Baltimore, which has been sending psychic tremors out into the world causing mayhem, mass suicides, and the beginning of the end of civilization"--

Foreign Devils

Foreign Devils
Author: John Hornor Jacobs
Publisher: Gollancz
Total Pages: 421
Release: 2015-09-17
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 057512394X

The world is on the brink of war. Fisk and Shoe - mercenaries, very much not wanting to get caught in the middle of a political whirlwind - must deliver a very important message, and find a very dangerous man. They have caught the eye of the powerful men of the world, and now the stakes are higher than they like. And the Emperor has decreed that Livia Cornelius, pregnant with Fisk's child, must travel to the far lands of the Autumn Lords on a diplomatic mission. It will mean crossing half the world, and facing new dangers. And in the end, she will uncover the shocking truth at the heart of the Autumn Lords' Empire. A truth which will make the petty politics of war and peace unimportant, and will change the world.